1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ion exchangeable mixture and a method of producing the same, and more particularly, to an ion exchangeable mixture which has low electric resistance and selective permeability, and which can be produced easily so that film formation using the ion exchangeable mixture can be carried out without any restriction in the film's size, shape or the like, and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A microfluidic device refers to a device in which inlets, outlets, reactors and the like are connected through microchannels. Such a device is well known in the related art and is widely used as a microanalytic device such as a Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC). This microfluidic device generally includes, in addition to the microchannels, micropumps and micromixers for transporting and mixing of fluids, and microfilters for filtering the transported fluids.
The microfluidic device that is used as a biological analytic device, such as an LOC, should be in general accompanied by an apparatus necessary in the process of lysing cells or viruses, or should make use of externally lysed cell solutions or preliminarily purified materials. Conventionally used cytolytic methods include an alkali treatment method, an enzymatic method, a boiling method and the like.
The alkali treatment method involves cell lysis through exposure of cells or viruses to high pH by adding a chemical substance such as NaOH to them. However, there are problems when conventional methods of lysing cells or viruses such as the alkali treatment method are applied to microfluidic devices such as LOCs. For example, when an alkali solution such as a NaOH solution is to be added, or when an alkaline cytolysate resulting from cell lysis with an alkali solution is to be neutralized by adding a neutralizing solution, there are required a process for introducing a cytolytic alkali solution and a device for the introducing process, and there also occurs a problem that the sample solution would be diluted by the alkali solution and neutralizing solution added. The process of introducing these solutions and the additional device may develop into a serious problem with respect to a microfluidic device handling microscale volumes. Also, in order to be able to use biological analytic methods such as PCR in the following stages, the alkali solution such as a NaOH solution must be removed or neutralized.
In order to solve such problems as described above, a method is needed in which a solution is made alkaline by adjusting the solution pH through electrolysis, without the need to additionally introduce an alkali solution, and then cells are lysed in situ while the pH thus achieved is maintained by means of an ion exchangeable membrane. However, nothing has been reported on an ion exchangeable membrane which exhibits excellent selective permeability to maintain a once-achieved pH constant and has excellent electric conductivity, thereby enhancing the efficiency of electrolysis.